Ficus krishnae C. DC., Curtis Bot. Mag. 132: t. 8092. 1906. (Syn: Ficus benghalensis L. var. krishnae (C. DC.) Corner, Gard. Bull. Singapore 21 (1): 14. 1965);
India (Cultivated throught in gardens, lawns and squares), cultivated in Malesia and Sri Lanka as per Synopsis of the Genus Ficus L. (Moraceae) in India Lal Babu Chaudhary*, Jana Venkata Sudhakar, Anoop Kumar, Omesh Bajpai, Rinkey Tiwari and G. V. S. Murthy-   Taiwania, 57(2): 193-216, 2012;
Vernacular Names:—Krishna bor, Krishna cup, Krishna fig tree, Krishna’s butter cup (English); Makkhan Katori, Krishna Badh (Hindi); Krishna Badh (Sanskrit); Krishna Khongang (Manipuri).

Krishna Fig, Krishna’s butter cup • Hindi: माखन कटोरी Makhan Katori, कृष्ण बढ़ Krishna badh • Manipuri: ক্ৰিশ্না খোঙনাঙ Krishna Khongnang;
 

/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/FicusKrishnae-Fruit.jpg
/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Ficus%20Krishnae.JPG
/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/f%20k%20fruit.jpg
/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/f%20k%20fruit-3.jpg

 

/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Ficus%20Krishnae%20-%20close.JPG
/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/FicusKrishnae-Bark.jpg
/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/FicusKrishnae-Leaf.jpg
 

/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/_MG_0897s.jpg

 

Ficus krishnae: A big tree of Ficus krishnae in Rani Bag Mumbai. I have seen a smaller one in Pune. (Garware college.) 


– There is a big one at Lal Bagh, Bangalore.


– Bose and choudhury from their experience have written that it is a medium sized tree and never grows very big. Is it true?


– I have seen a tall tree of this but it was planted. Btw just out of curiosity, has anyone seen the leaves being used for some traditional purpose?


– The Ficus Krishnae in Lalbagh Bangalore is a very big tree. 


– There is a tree of The Ficus Krishnae in Dr.Hari Singh Gour University Sagar (M.P.) and also behind the circuit house in Seoni (M.P.).


– it is also in bokaro park in jharkhand


– There is one more tree of Ficus krishnae in Mumbai in The BPT garden (also known as Sagar Upavan) at Colaba.  


/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Ficus%20Krishna.jpg

 

/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Symbiosis%208.jpg

FROM THE NATURE: Attaching two images. One is of a butterfly (Plain Tiger On Haliotropa) and the other of Ficus Krishna. This is what Dr Venakatesh says about Ficus Krishna. 
Ficus Krishna (KRISHNA FIG) is an unusual variant of the Banyan. Its leaves which are smaller than those of the Banyan have a pocket like pouchon their back at the baseabove the leaf stalk. The religious persons believe that this is because Lord Krishna used them to scoop out butter.” 


– Attaching two images. Second one is for identification


– I hope Callicarpa bodinieri   

 

/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Krishna%20Fig%20Tree%20-%200014.jpg
/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Krishna%20Fig%20Tree%20-%200011.jpg
/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Krishna%20Fig%20Tree%20-%200006.jpg
/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Krishna%20Fig%20Tree%20-%200005.jpg
/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Krishna%20Fig%20Tree%20-%200003.jpg
/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Krishna%20Fig%20Tree%20-%20Tender%20Leaf.jpg
/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Krishna%20Fig%20Tree%20-%20Tender%20Fig.jpg
/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Krishna%20Fig%20Tree%20-%20Leaf.jpg
/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Krishna%20Fig%20Tree%20-%20Fig.jpg
/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Krishna%20Fig%20Tree%20-%20Bark.jpg
/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Krishna%20Fig%20Tree%20-%20Aerial%20Root.jpg
Ficus benghalensis var. krishnaeKrishna Fig is a very large, fast growing, evergreen tree up to 30 m tall, with spreading branches and many aerial roots. Leaves stalked, ovate heart-shaped, 3 nerved, when young velvety on both sides. The unique feature of the tree is that the leaves have a pocket-like fold at the base. Leaf stalks with a broad smooth greasy gland at the apex, compressed, downy. The plant is also known as Krishna Butter Cup.  

As with most things in India, there is a mythological story of Krishna related to the leaves of this tree. The story goes that Lord Krishna was very fond of butter and would even steal it. Once when he was caught by his mother, Yashoda, he tried to hide the butter by rolling it up in a leaf of this tree. Since then, the leaves of these trees have retained this shape.


Ficus with beautiful leaves……………….


 

/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Krishna%20Fig%20Tree%20-%20Leaf-6.jpg
/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Krishna%20Fig%20Tree%20-%200002.jpg
/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Krishna%20Fig%20Tree%20-%20Tender%20Leaf-8.jpg
/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Krishna%20Fig%20Tree%20-%20Fig-9.jpg
/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Krishna%20Fig%20Tree%20-%20Canopy.jpg
/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Krishna%20Fig%20Tree%20-%200004.jpg
I wonder why this variety has been treated as the synonym to the typical variety and the accepted name for this taxon is F. benghalensis L.?
http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl/record/kew-2809653
Couldn’t find the reference too. Hope somebody will help.


Yes another tree often seen grown in all the major botanical gardens of India.
It is there in Rani Bag Mumbai too.


My Ficus krishnae died :(…
Yes …, some believe it to be a deformed form of F. benghalensis.
Very strangely on the Plant List, for Ficus benghalensis var. krishnae confidence level is of one star where as for Ficus krishnae its two stars hahahaha…. what a joke…


QUERY ON FICUS KRISHNAE DC (KRISHNA’S BUTTER CUP TREE) : 3 posts by 2 authors.

I would be grateful if anyone could provide some interesting information/LINKS on the Ficus krishnae DC or Ficus benghalensis var krishnae, popularly known as
Krishna’s Butter cup or Krishna’s Fig or Makhan Katori.


Pl. see Ficus benghalensis


 

Here is a very interesting paper from RINKEY TIWARI, JANA V. SUDHAKAR, LAL B. CHAUDHARY, GARIMELLA V. S. MURTHY & ANJALA DURGAPAL:
Here is the abstract:
Abstract– Ficus krishnae considered as native to India is very unique among all species in the genus as it has peculiar leaves generally with cone-shaped structure at base and leaflet like appendages on the petiole. These both features are tremendously variable within the species. The taxonomic status of F. krishnae is still uncertain as sometimes it is treated as subspecies or conspecific to its closest relative F. benghalensis. Many mythological stories regarding the formation of cup in the leaves are also associated in India and hence the plants of the species are considered sacred and worshiped. The merger of F. krishnae with F. benghalensis makes the latter quite heterogeneous and at the same time it may not be acceptable in the society at large as with the former the religious faith of the people is attached. Earlier it was believed that F. krishnae differs from F. benghalensis only in cup-shaped leaves. But critical examination of large number of specimens gathered from different places and available information reveal that F. krishnae distinctly differs from F. benghalensis not only in cup formation in leaves, rather also in height of the plants, aerial roots, stipules, petiole and its leafy appendages and ostiolar bracts of the receptacle, in addition to differences in chromosome, DNA contents, stomatal and parenchymatous cells and nodal anatomy. Based on morphological, anatomical and cytological evidences F. krishnae is again reinstated here as a correct species. The correct citation of the species has been provided and discussion has been made on the variation pattern of the leaves. The detail description of the species along with line drawing illustrations and colour photographs has been added.
Kudos to the authors for this remarkable work.


looked at this manuscript
looks wonderful details and comparison
now i need to read it carefully one of these days


Small writeup on Krishna’s Fig : 6 posts by 4 authors.
I am a new member of this group and have very recently got interested in tree spotting.
I have created a small writeup on a tree which caught my interest recently. 
The blog is mainly a way for me to save my brain dump somewhere of all the reading that I do when I come across some thing interesting, for future.

https://bangaloreoutdoors.wordpress.com/2017/12/20/krishnas-fig/

Kindly, let me know what you think.

Show trimmed content


Very well written. Wonderful. 

Well written. All the best.

Only a few are on line.

During our south tour we have seen it and the most pleasant thing was to know that lord krishna used these natural pots for collecting milk and sipping it.

Ficus krishnae – 240412 – RK: Ficus krishnaeat Lalbagh Botanical Gardens,Bangalore  
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UelzXpp3Qgvjx70ZDwEPWgCVl5wozdIL1ikfP7pwKdo/edit


 
A RELATED QUERY ON FICUS KRISHNAE DC : 2 posts by 2 authors.  
I would be grateful if anyone could provide an insight into the characteristic curl of the Ficus Krishnae’s leaves.
Does the curl in the leaf perform some function for the tree or is it merely a genetic mutation?
I have not found an answer to this question in whatever literature I have read on this tree.


May be the following is of some use: Ficus benghalensis


efloraindia: 200911 BRS36:  If any one attempted the propagation of F. krishane, I shall be happy to have the details.
I have tried through cuttings, but not successful. After going through some literature I found that this sp. can be propagated through seeds only.
Photos are avialable in the following link. http://nbranaikatti.blogspot.com/2011/05/ficus.html


We have a very long thread of F. Krishni existing on eflora site. Rather that was a topic of discussion then.
I don’t know how to find old threads, and may not get time to search. Pl go through it. It explains about propagation too. 

Try air layering for Ficus propagation. We had success with most of the Ficus species around us in Kerala. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Layering

 

/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/IMG_20180819_173134.jpg

Do plants absorb water moisture via leaves : 7 posts by 4 authors. Attachments (1)- 914 kb.

Do plants absorb moisture n water thru leaves?
Why Krishna vad tree may have cones to every leave?
Has anyone seen a full grown Krishna vad?


A large tree is seen in Lalbagh Botanical Garden


Thank you … I thought many ppl might be cutting branches of krishna vad being very rare, so good to know that it’s probably not happening. We r planning to plant it, so asked.
We got one good sapling after searching for many years and we planted it in protected Army area Dehuroad.
What about my other two questions, repeating again.
*Do plants absorb moisture n water thru leaves?
*Why Krishna vad tree may have cones to every leave?


I have seen one large tree planted by Department of Botany, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra (Haryana), perhaps still present..
For your first query, I can say that under normal circumstances, leaves are not required to absorb water, rather they loose water to maintain a thermostat… but in unusually dry habitats, plants do take aerial moisture, and revert the normal route..
Thank you … for the interesting information that plants do a thermostat – did not knew this, nature is great.

Yes, I bumped on a thread which was saying that Krishna Vad leaves have a cone probably to collect moisture. Waiting for any other information on Krishna Vad.


References:

Revisit the taxonomy of Ficus krishnae (Moraceae) RINKEY TIWARI, JANA V. SUDHAKAR, LAL B. CHAUDHARY, GARIMELLA V. S. MURTHY & ANJALA DURGAPAL- Phytotaxa 192 (3): 169–180 (2015) 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *